Well mechanism



May 1, 1923. 1,453,847

M. E LAYNE WELL MECHANISM Filed Sept. 8 1920 To all v citizen of the United States, residing at Los' Patented May 1, 1923.

UNITED STATES,

PATENT oFFi-cE.-. a

minnow E. mm, or nos moms, CALIFORNIA.

WELL 'imcnmsm,

Application flledseptember s, 192o.-I Serial No. M ns.

Be it known that I, MAHLON E. LAYNE, a

Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Well Mechanism, of; iwhich the following is a specification, v

The invention re1ates to Well mechanism and particularly to the oiling means for -lubricat-in' the sleeve bearing at the neck of y a centri gal'orrotary pump and the bear ings in the shaft protecting casing. extending upwardly from the pump neck; The invention has for its primary objects, the provision of an improved arrangement whereby,

- (1) the use of the stufling box at the upper end of theshaft casing is dispensed with tother with the expense and care incidentto'j -t e maintenanceof such stufiing box, (2)

- the loss of 'oil is reduced to a minimum, such oil being fed into the pump dome at the bot- 4 tom of the shaft casinga'nd discharging at the top, instead of the reversearrangement commonl used wherethe oil is fed int'o the ;,top of t e-casing andfdischarges into thewater of the wellat the "bottom resulting in a loss "-ofoil and a contamination of thewater,-andf 3) a} separation of any sand in the water w 'ch reaches the'sleeve bearing o in the pump neck is secured. One embodi- I -mer t of theiinvention is' illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein- I Flgure 1 isrwan assembly ,vieW showing it pump in vertical section with the improvement-applied thereto Fi 2 is a transversesection on the: I-ofjEig. 1. And

F1 3, is apyn ticalv section on a'reduced sea e through the -.oil feeding device.

v It has heretofore been the practice to lu-' bricate the hearings in. the shaft casing of a pump of the general type herein illustrated and the bearing at the pump neck by forcing oil intojthe top of the shaft casing, such'oil being; circulated downwardly. through the shaft casing past the various hearings in;

such casing and. pastljthefbearin at the into the water of the well Vat-the'pump.

pump neck, afteriwhich. the oil dischai 'lgfis e oil which is fed into the shaft casin at-the 7 top must necessarily be forced inund'er considerable pressure, especially in deep well workin order to insure-a proper feed downward through the casingand in order to counter-balance the pressure of the water at the pump whichtiend sto carry the water upward through the bearings. This method of a plying the oil or the lubricating fluid has t e. disadvantage thatthe oil discharged into the'water at the pump is wasted and contaminates the water to a certain extent, this The present invention is designed to over come these difficulties, and briefly stated, in-

volvesthe use of an improved-apparatus for reversing the ClIClllfllSiOIi of oil, the oil being forced into the shaft casing from its;

lower .end and circulatingupward past the bearing in the pump' neck and past the series of bearings in the shaft casing and discharging at the top of the casing; This oil which discharges at the top of the casing is caught any may bere-usedrso that the amountof oil required is reduced to a minimum and'the I vWater. discharged from the pump is substantially free oil. The oil that is supplied to the bottom of the shaft casing is fed into bearing in the in case of a lea age of water into the-separation chamber, a settling or separation of any sand carried thereby ma be effected below' a. separation chamber 1 which surrounds'the pump and is so arranged that the point at which the o1lor mixture of oil and water, secures access to the bearing which is to be lubricated, the construction differing. in this feature of oil storage and separation. adjacent the bearing from struc- I "tunes heretofore used in which oil was forced ,in at the pump bearing. The arrangement V -is'also-preferably such that the'supply of oil is furnished to the upper portion of the lower end of the bearingzand prev'entin cirs .slecve bearing in-thepump neckvthus. cou'ntext-balancing any water pressure,v at the culationofwater upward from the. rower end of the bearing. The arrangement and its advantages will be readily understood 3 upon a consideration of the structure as hereinafter described and as illustrated in the drawings,

Referring 'no, to

the drawings, the "rind cipal parts maybe enumerated as fol mg, 1 is the pump whichfi'i 'ay of-anyr casing surrounding the sleeve bearing and supplied with oil through the pipe 8 9 is the discharge casing leading to the surface of the ground and discharging through the outlet 10; His the casing of the presser-or oil feed device located at the surface of the ground adjacent the upper end of the shaft casing; 12 is the pulley by means of' which power is applied to the pump shaft; and 13 is the wellcasing.

The pump casing in which the oil or separation chamber is located is provided with a plurality of webs 14 (Fig. 3) for giving the necessary strength but the cavities are all freely connected by the passages 15 and 16 and the upper portion of the chamber has free communication with the bearing surface between the bearing and the shaft by reason of the pluralit of perforations 17.-

The lower end of the caring 6 is exposed to pressure from the chamber and accessible to certain amount of water and perhaps a slight amount of sand carried thereby which by the pressure applied through gets past'therunners 2 and into the bottom of the chamber, but there will be no upward circulation-along the shaft tending to carry the sand or dirt sincethe pressure at the bottom of the bearing-is counter-balanced the perforations 17. Since the'chamber is of considerable volume andthe openings-17 are ad-- 'jacent the upper end thereof, the sand .or

dirt which gets into the chamber will settle out and, therefore, not reach the openings 17 even'tho there is a certain amount of agitation in thischan berincident to the rotation-of the impellers in the bottom thereof: Furthermore, the oil being'lighter than the water, will tend to fill the spaceat the top of the chamber, the lower portion of the chamber being occu ied by any water which may leak into it. upward between the. shaft and the bearing 6 passes into shaft casing 1 and rises through such shaft casing-peat the various bearings '5 and finally escapes into the receptacle 18 (Fig. 1) which surrounds the shaft above the bearing 19. F'romth-is' receptacle the oil may be carried through a suitable pipe 20 to a reservoir (not shown) -and -1'nay be subthrough the'oil pipe sis-shown in Fig. 3

sequently re-used. v c

The device for forcing the oil'downward.

and comprisesthe easing "11 havinga cylinder 21 at its lower portion and acyIind- 22 at its upper portion' A piston 23 is car- Y ried in the lower cylinder and a piston he 011 which is forced in the up er cylinder, such pistons being connected y the piston rod 25. The upper cylinder above the piston is filled with oil and such oil is conducted by means of the pipe 26 to the upper end of the pipe 8.

ressure is applied to the chamber 21 to force.'the piston 23 upward from the-pipe 27 communicating with the upper end of the discharge casing 9. A drain pipe 28 communicating with the chamber above the 7 piston 23 serves to permit'of the escape of any water vwhich may leak past the piston from the lower to the upper side.

Since the piston 23 is larger than the piston 24 sufiicient pressure will be applied by the Water from the" discharge casing to overcome any head in the oil chamber 7 and feed theoil from such chamber upward to the receptacle 18 in the upper end of the shaft casing. The application of the feed is alsoautomatic since the pressure in the cylinder 21 is released when the pump stops, thus stopping the flow of water through the discharge casing. Various other means might, of course, be provided for giving the necessary feed downward through pipe 8 and the invention, is not limited in this particular'. The shape and location of the oil and separation chamber inight also be considerably changed or modified depending upon conditions. If desired a=.considerable amount of water may be allowed to mix with the oil in the separation chamber sinceithis water will be free from sand and dirt due to the separation functions'of the chamber. What I claim is: i 1. In combination in a well mechanism a centrifugal or rotary pump provided iwith an oilreservoir adjacent the pump neck and with impellers, andupwardly extending discharge casing, a'sh'aft casing extending up wardly from the pumpneck, a shaft connected to the impellers and extending upward through the shaft casing, a hearing at the'pump neck extending into said oil reservoir, and means for forcing oil into said reservoir and thence upward through the shaft casing.

' 2. In comblnatlon in a well mechanism a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with an oil reservoir adjacent the pump neck and with impellers, an upwardly extending discharge casing, a shaft casing extending up- Wardly from the punip neck, and'provided with a series of bearlngs for the shaft,- a

v shaft-connected to the impellers and extending upwardly through the shaft casing and the bearings therein, a bearing at the pump neck extending into said oil reservoir, and

means for forcing oil into said reservoir and thence upward through the hearing at the pum neck and past the series of bearings in he shaft casing.

3. In combination in a Well mechanism 'a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with and thence upwardly through the shaft casing. a

4:. In combination in' a well mechanism, a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with a closed separating reservoir in the upper portion of its casing, an upwardly extending shaft casing, a drive shaft therein extending ,down'into the pump casing, a bearing in the upper portion of the pump casing lying partially in said separating reservoir, an openin through the bearing above its lower end an communicating with the upper por tion of said reservoir and means for applying a lubricating fluid under pressure to said reservoir to cause the circulation thereof through said opening in the bearing and upward into the shaft casing.

5. In combination in a well mechanism a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with an oil reservolr adjacent the pump neck and with impellers, an upwardly extending discharge casing, a shaft casing extendin upwardly from the ump neck, a shaft connected to the impe lers and extending upward through the shaft casing, a bearing at the pump neck extending into said oil reservoir, and means for applying pressure from the discharge casing to force oil downward to the oil reservoir andthence upward into the shaft casing.

6. Incombination in a'well mechanism a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with an oil reservoir adjacent the pump neck and with impellers, an upwardly extending discharge casing, a shaft casing extending upwardly from the ump neck, a shaft connected to the impe lers and extending upward through the shaft casing, a bearing at the pump neck extending into said oil reservoir, and means for applying pressure from the discharge casing toxforce oil downward to the oil reservoir and thence upward into the shaft casing, and thence past the' hearings in the shaft. casing,

7. In combination in a Well mechanism a centrifugal or rotary pump provided'with an oil reservoir adjacent the pump neck and with impellers, an upwardly'extending dischar e casing, a shaft casing extending upward y from the pump neck, a shaft con-- nected to the impellers and extending up ward through the shaft casing, a bearm at the pump neck extending into said 01 reservoir, means for forcing oil downward from the surface of the ground to said oil reservoir and thence upwardlythrough the shaft casing, and means for collecting the oil for re-use at the upper end of the shaft casin l 8. n combination in a well mechanism, a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with impellers, a shaft casing extending upwardly from the pump, bearings for supporting the shaft, a separation chamber adjacent the lower portion of the shaft casing, and means for forcing oil into the chamber and upward intothe shaft casing.-

9. In combination in a well mechanism, a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with impellers, a shaft casing extending upwardly from the pump, bearings for supporting the shaft, a separation chamber adjacent the lower portion of the shaft casing, and means for forcing oil into the chamber and upward into the;shaft casing, past the bearings in I such casing.

10. I combination in a well mechanism, a centrifugal or rotary pump provided with impellers, a shaft casing extending upwardly from the pump, bearings for supporting the shaft, a separation chamber adjacent the lower portion of the shaft casing, and means for forcing oil into the chamber and upward into the shaft casing, past the bearings in such casing, and out at the upper portion of said casing.

11. In combination in a well mechanism, a centrifugal or rotary pump, a discharge casing extending upwar 1y from the pump, a vertical drive shaft for the pump, a bearing for the shaft in the pump, a shaft casing surrounding the shaft, an oil chamber, pipingleading therefrom to the pump bearing,

a piston in the oil chamber and means for applying pressure from the discharge casing to cause said piston to force oil from said chamber to said bearing.

12. In combination in a well mechanism, a centrifugal or rotary pump, a discharge casing extending upwardly from the pump, a vertical drive shaft for'the pump, a bearing for the-shaft in the pump, a shaft casing surrounding the shaft, an oil chamber, piping leading therefrom to the pump bearing, a differential piston device in the oil chamber having two piston members of different diameter, and means for applying pressure from the shaft casing to the larger piston member to cause said member to move the smaller piston member against a body of oil in the chamber and feed it to said bearing.

M. a E. LAYNE. 

